The object of this invention is to provide an improved type of six-high (1-1-1) rolling mill in which additional rolls and bearings are provided in order to give lateral support for the work rolls, thus enabling smaller work rolls to be used than would be the case of a six-high rolling mill without such lateral support.
Such a mill was first proposed by Murakami (U.S. Pat. No. 2,907,235) to our knowledge. In the Murakami mill, each work roll was provided with a lateral support at each side (i.e. entry and exit sides), each lateral support comprising a set of rollers mounted upon a common shaft, the shaft being supported at intervals throughout its length by saddles, the saddles themselves being supported by a rigid frame attached to the mill housings. This structure suffered from the fact that due to the intermittent support of the work roll by the rollers, wear on the work roll was uneven, and so a striping of the work roll would occur, the stripes corresponding to the positions of the lateral support rollers. This striping would then transfer to the rolled product, thus causing unacceptable surface finish.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,377, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, it was taught that this defeat could be overcome by providing side support clusters on each side of each work roll, the clusters each comprising a side support roll which supports the work roll and is itself supported at intervals throughout its length by two sets of rollers, each of the sets of rollers being supported on a common shaft, each shaft being supported at intervals throughout its length by saddles, the saddles being supported in turn by a side support beam assembly attached to the mill housings. This mill also offered the advantage of high reduction capability and superior performance to other types of rolling mills.